I was paging through an issue of Dog Fancy magazine and saw an ad for Royal Canin’s new line of breed-specific foods.
Interesting idea, huh? Instead of just tailoring foods to dogs of a certain size or age group, they’ve developed foods for specific breeds. It makes sense that puppies would have different nutritional needs than adults or seniors… but what about dogs of the same age but different breeds?
Royal Canin — backed by years of research — says that dogs of different heritage have different nutritional needs. Generally speaking, dogs all need the same things. Protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, fiber, and the other building blocks of a healthy diet. I guess I can see both sides of the issue. There’s definitely a case for breed-specific food, but there’s a good argument against it, too.
But look at it in terms of humans. Would you feed a twenty year old Olympic athlete and a twenty year old couch potato the same exact diet just because they’re the same age? I might be more inclined to buy into the idea of food for types of dogs — working dogs, herding dogs, cold climate dogs, etc — rather than special food for each breed.
Currently, Royal Canin offers twelve different foods for twelve different breeds:
- Boxers
- Bulldogs
- Chihuahuas
- Cocker Spaniels
- Dachshunds
- German Shepherds
- Golden Retrievers
- Labrador Retrievers
- Miniature Schnauzers
- Miniature/Toy Poodles
- Shih Tzus
- Yorkies
Of course, this raises a question for me: what do you feed your mutt? My dog Moose is mostly German shepherd, so he might benefit from a breed-specific formula. My other dog Lally is part Shar-Pei and part Boxer — would Boxer food work for her?
Are we going to eventually see different foods for each breed in the American Kennel Club? That would be a lot of different foods to sort through! What about designer crossbreeds like Labradoodles and puggles? Are they going to get special foods, too?
What do you think? Do breed-specific foods make sense to you?